From Humble Beginnings: Part 2
by LyriaFrost
Summary: The continuing story of the Autobot warrior Bluestreak. Part 2.
1. Chapter 1

So I wrote this back at the same time I wrote From Humble Beginnings: Part 1. This is supposed to be a continuation of that story, however there is quite a large time skip that happens in between the two stories. I have been attempting, for years, to write a story that will bridge the gap between these two, but I can't seem to come up with any good ideas. I thought I would just put this part up then, since this three chapter set is also finished, and then I'd see if maybe someone here had some ideas for bridging the gap.

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing.

" " talking

: : private communication lines

* * *

"All Autobots please report to the rec-room for an important announcement." The message echoed from the loud speakers through the empty halls. Most of the crew had either passed out from over-energizing or were busy on duty. The base was deep in mourning. The last victory over the Decepticons had come at a heavy price. Nearly the entire command staff had been killed in a Decepticon trap. Ultra Magnus had called for a new staff to be sent and they were scheduled to arrive today. Slowly, everyone began to move but one. Bluestreak stayed in his room because he did not want to be around the others. They were very mean to him so he avoided them as much as possible, especially Cliffjumper and Tracks. These two would not hesitate to make sure the new arrivals knew how much of a failure Bluestreak was and how no one cared about him. Everyone knew that he had previously been stationed at Iacon base and that, normally, no one was transferred out of Iacon. For the first while, Bluestreak had maintained the belief that Prowl and Jazz would come for him and take him back where he belonged. But day and after day passed with no visitors. The others continued to comment on how he had been transferred so he must have done something wrong. Cliffjumper in particular seemed to like to tell Bluestreak that no one was going to come for him because no one cared about him. After many orns, Bluestreak began to believe these voices and his life became a living hell.

He passed a few blissful hours in peace but, alas, all good things must come to an end. It was quite late at night, around midnight, when someone knocked on Blue's door.

"Come out and play Baby Blue!" Cliffjumper called, "We have a fun new game planned out!" Well that certainly didn't sound fun to Bluestreak but he didn't really have a choice. If he didn't go out they would come in and get him and then things would be ten times worse. So with great reluctance, he opened the door and let them in.

"C'mon Blue Baby!" Tracks said, "We want you to meet some new friends." They pushed him out of the room and towards the rec room/meeting hall.

Meanwhile, in the rec room, everyone had to celebrate and reunite with loved ones among the new arrivals. In one dark corner sat a group of older mechs, lost in memories and cubes of high-grade. There was an air of experience around them, it was obvious that they had seen many battles and lost many friends. But there was something else, something darker. Their optics were empty, devoid of life; they were empty shells, something had killed their hope. Of course, no one on the base would have been able to guess that the reason, but it was that Bluestreak had been taken from them. He was the reason that they kept going, he reminded them that even in a world engulfed by war, there was still life, hope, and innocence and it was their job to protect it and fight for it. But when that reminder, Bluestreak, was taken, they forgot what they were fighting for. This group of veterans had been involved in the war since nearly the beginning and had always stuck together as a unit. Bluestreak had been the first one to be separated by a means other than death. He had simply disappeared one day and no one could say where he had gone. They had spent vorns searching for him, but to no avail. Among these mechs were the famous war heroes like Prowl, Jazz, Ratchet, Wheeljack, Ironhide, Inferno, Red Alert, Mirage, Hound, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker. Optimus Prime was scheduled to follow in a few weeks to trade posts with Magnus. However none of the younger mechs dared to approach their childhood heroes. Suddenly there was a loud commotion at the doorway.

"Sounds like someone had a little too much energon, eh Prowl?" Prowl was about to answer when a familiar figure was pushed through the doorway and fell in a heap. A group if rowdy and obviously quite drunken mechs staggered in after. One of them, painted entirely red, kicked the downed mech rather hard.

"Get up you lazy baby! Its time for some fun!" Cliffjumper cried. Even from the other side of the room, Prowl, Jazz, and the others could hear the dull thump of metal hitting metal and the accompanying soft cry of pain. Other mechs started to join in, kicking and hitting the downed form with a vicious strength.

"C'mon Jazz, we better break this up before it gets out of hand."

"Right behind ya Prowler." The two mechs made their way through the room until they were right next to the group. However, they still could not see the form on the ground.

"Is there a problem here gentlemen?" Jazz's thick drawl caused Cliffjumper to whirl around, looking rather guilty but quickly throwing up a mask of indifference.

"No, no problem here sir. We were just having some fun." But when Cliffjumper had moved, Prowl had dropped down beside the injured mech, who was sporting many dents and scratches. He had curled into himself to try to protect his face and chest panels from receiving the brunt of the attack. Prowl was trying to convince him to uncurl but it seemed that he had not yet registered that the blows had ceased. When Prowl finally succeeded, whatever he was going to say next was stolen from his lips. All that escaped was a strangled "Jazz…" When Jazz heard the pain in his bondmate's voice and felt the emotions through their bond, he quickly hurried to his side. What he saw would haunt his nightmares for vorns to come. Lying on the floor, dripping his own energon and oil, was their sweet little Bluestreak.

"Ratchet!" The other mechs at the table had noticed the commotion but could not see what was happening. When they heard the worry in Prowl's normally emotionless voice, they quickly leaped up and hurried over.

"What's wrong Prowl?"

"Look for yourself." Ratchet stood for a moment, horrified at the sight before him, before he went into medic mode. He quickly pulled out a scanner from his subspace and ran it over the downed form.

"He has multiple broken cables, most likely internal leaking as well. Some of these injuries look quite old. Help me get him to the med-lab so I can bet a better look." Jazz quickly lifted the slight form into his arms and carried him out of the room. The movements caused the slight form to stir and bright blue optics flickered blearily on.

"Oh, hello Jazz. Hello Prowl." whispered a small voice before the black-and-white head fell back to its resting place on Jazz's chest. Prowl and Jazz exchanged a significant look before moving on, more worried than before. There was something very disconcerting about Bluestreak's easy acceptance of their presence. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker stayed behind to escort the troublemakers to the brig. When they used a little more force than necessary on Cliffjumper, no one dared argue with the look in their optics.


	2. Chapter 2

The med-lab was in total chaos when the twins got back. Ratchet wasn't even bothering to keep the others out of his space like usual; perhaps he knew that this was one time where they had to be there, especially Prowl and Jazz. Ever since they had rescued the then-ten-vorn-old Bluestreak from the ruins of the royal castle of Praxus, they had taken him in and raised him as their own sparkling. Even though Prowl and Jazz were bonded and could therefore produce a sparkling, they had not wanted to bring a one into a world where they would grow up knowing only war. But one look at Bluestreak and they had known that there was no going back. He had embedded himself firmly in their sparks and there was no going back.

Over time, Bluestreak managed to capture everyone's spark, from the paranoid and private Red Alert to sociopathic Sunstreaker. Everyone needed reassurance that their little Blue would be okay. Ratchet was running himself crazy, hooking up monitors, sealing energon and coolant lines, and stripping away dented armor. Prowl was sitting on the edge of Bluestreak's berth, near the head so that he would be out of the way. Jazz was standing next to him with one arm wrapped around Prowl's shoulders so that Prowl could lean against him. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe flanked the door, in case any were foolish enough to enter. Red Alert was getting so upset that his paranoia was coming out full force. Inferno had taken him to a corner and was trying to calm him down, but his own anxiety was getting the better of him. Hound was sitting on a berth with his back against a wall and Mirage settled comfortably between his legs. Ironhide simply leaned against a nearby wall, quietly keeping Optimus informed about Bluestreak's condition via comm-line.

"Well, I've done everything I can now we just have to wait until he wakes up." Ratchet dropped with a sigh onto the berth next to Bluestreak.

"Will he be okay Ratchet?" Prowl looked up at the med-officer.

"He should be fine physically. His broken lines were causing internal leaks as I feared but they have been sealed. Most of his other problems stemmed from malnutrition, dehydration, and exhaustion but the IV and sedative I administered should take care of that. He'll make a full recovery bar any complications."

"What kind of complications?"

"Well there's always a chance for infection to set in. Also, if he moves around too much, one of the seals could break."

"Well Ratch' ya did ya best and that's all that matters. We'll deal with other problems if they 'rise."

"What if my best isn't enough? What if I missed something or…"

"Ratchet, calm down. You are the most highly skilled medic I know and I also know that you care too much about Bluestreak, or any of us, to miss anything." This time it was Prowl who spoke, interrupting Ratchet's near-insane rant. Wheeljack came and led his bondmate into his office to have a private talk. When they came out a few minutes later, no one had moved from their spots. In fact, no one budged at all for several hours except to grab some energon from the dispenser or stretch out stiff joints.

Suddenly there came a quiet rustling and whimper of pain from Bluestreak's berth. Prowl noticed his optics starting to flutter and gripped his hand tighter, coaxing him back to the land of consciousness.

"Bluestreak? Come on Blue… come back to us. Everything will be okay now baby, don't worry." Bluestreak slowly onlined his optics then was forced to shut them down again when the bright lights hurt his CPU.

"Whoops sorry about that Blue. Lemme fix those lights for you." Ratchet turned the lights down a few settings so they were much more dim. Bluestreak onlined his optics again and looked up at Prowl and Jazz.

"Why are you still here? Normally you disappear after I wake up again."

"What are ya talkin' 'bout Blue? And wha' do ya mean 'again'? Has this 'appened before?"

"You're not real Jazz, you're just something my imagination came up with a long time ago. The real Prowl and Jazz are back at Iacon, not here." Just then, Bluestreak noticed Prowl's hand entwined with his. "That's strange… normally I can't feel you." Prowl leaned down and softly kissed Bluestreak's forehead.

"That's because this time, we're real Bluestreak. We finally found you again." Bluestreak simply stared at Prowl.

"But…but…"

"Shhh… relax baby. No one's going to hurt you any more." Prowl's voice finally got through to Bluestreak and a lone tear escaped from his optics. Jazz reached down and wiped the tear away. That was the last straw, for with that gesture Bluestreak completely broke down.

"They said… you… wouldn't come back for… me."

"Who said tha' to ya?"

"Every… one. They said that… a mech only got transferred from Iacon… because they had done something bad… and no one wanted me anymore."

"Oh baby, that's not true. We looked for you forever but we couldn't find you. Someone had erased all your data from the system. It was as if you never existed. But we did want you and we tried so hard to bring you back home." Bluestreak continued to sob and clutch at Prowl's hand. Jazz came around to the other side of the berth and took Bluestreak's other hand.

"Wha' Prowl says is true. We tried so hard ta find ya sweetie. We never stopped looking." After a few more breems, Bluestreak finally calmed down enough to notice everyone else in the room.

"You're all here? What happened to bring you all the way out here?" Ironhide stepped forward to answer his question.

"Remember that big battle with the Decepticons?"

"Yea what about it?"

"Well, we're the new command staff." Bluestreak's optics lit up.

"So that means you're staying?" Ratchet came forward at this point.

"Don't worry Blue, we're here to stay." Prowl added his own comment.

"We'll all be one big happy family again baby." The others took this as their cue to gather around the berth and say their own hellos. Bluestreak would have been more than happy to stay here, surrounded by his loved ones forever, but unfortunately his healing body had other ideas. Jazz was the first to notice the signs of fatigue and stepped over to Ratchet to voice his concerns.

"Ah think Blue is getting a little tired." Ratchet gave the younger mech a good look and had to concur with Jazz's conclusion.

"All right everyone, I think that's enough excitement for now. He is still healing after all and needs rest. I want everyone out now so I can give him a checkup and then let him recharge." Bluestreak really didn't want to sleep but knew that Ratchet was right. But he really didn't want to be alone right now so he quietly voiced his concern.

"Ratchet?" Said medic turned around to see what his patient needed. "Can Prowl and Jazz stay please? I… I… I really don't want to be alone right now." The last part was said in a near whisper and Ratchet felt his spark break all over again.

"Of course they can, Blue. We'll make an exception this time."

_:Thank ya Ratch': :Yes thank you very much:_ Jazz and Prowl sent Ratchet their gratitude via the comm-lines and Ratchet knew that they were thanking him for more than just letting them stay.

"Well let's just push two of these berths together so there's room for all of you to recharge comfortably here." Soon enough, Bluestreak was peacefully recharging between Jazz and Prowl who were also well on their way to recharging, as the stresses of the last cycle had taken their toll. As Ratchet looked down, he couldn't help but notice that his younger brother had lost some the tightness to his form, that he looked much more relaxed then he had since they had joined the Autobots. Truly, Jazz and Bluestreak had been good for him, teaching the normally stoic Prowl to loosen up and have fun occasionally.

"Sleep tight Prowlie." Ratchet bent down to kiss Prowl's chevron before turning off the lights and leaving to have some well-earned recharge of his own with Wheeljack. Prowl smiled, having been only in half-recharge, then snuggled down with his sparkmate and sparkling to enjoy having his family together again.


	3. Chapter 3

This one is kind of short, but it seemed like the best plea for me to end this segment of the story. So, does anyone have any ideas to help me explain how Bluestreak ended up transferred, in a situation where he could not see anyone from back in Iacon?

* * *

Three weeks passed with Bluestreak still stuck in the medbay. Ratchet did not want to release him until he was sure that all the patches were holding and his self-repair systems could take care of everything. Of course, Blue was never left alone; someone was always there to take care of him. Usually it was Prowl or jazz or both but sometimes they were both busy and the others came to occupy his time. Even though the others tried to take good care of him, he would still get very bored. So needless to say, Bluestreak was overjoyed when Ratchet finally released him. But on that day, no one was around except Ratchet. Bluestreak was sad because he knew that the others were aware today was his last day in the medbay.

"Where is everyone else?"

"They're all busy now, Blue."

"Oh…"

"Don't worry, you'll see them later."

"Ok then."

"C'mon, I'll go with you to your room." Ratchet led Bluestreak down a maze of halls, turning this way and that. : We're on our way, Prowl. :

: Thank you, Ratchet. See you in a moment. :

"Where are we Ratchet? The bunks are on the other side of base. This level is deserted."

"Just follow, Blue. Everything will make sense soon enough." Ratchet finally came to a dead end hall and pressed a button that was carefully concealed. An elevator opened and took the two mechs up to the top floor. When the doors opened, Bluestreak saw only pitch darkness. Ratchet grabbed his arm and pulled him in to the room, then disappeared into the blackness. A few seconds later, bright light flooded the room and a deafening cry of "Surprise!" shook his audio receptors. When he finally recovered from the shock, he was astonished to see all of his Iacon friends standing around the room. Prowl, Jazz, Ratchet, Wheeljack, Red Alert, Inferno, Ironhide, Mirage, Hound, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker were all scattered about. Optimus and Bumblebee had even taken time out of their busy command schedules to come out.

"Where are we? I thought this level was closed."

"It was, but as the command staff we had the authority to reopen it. We are actually right above the command center now. Ratchet took you the long way here so we could get ready." Prowl stepped forward to stand in front of Bluestreak while he answered.

"What are we doing here? Prowl? Jazz?"

"Well we fixed up all these rooms Blue. Down each of these halls here are fully furnished rooms with private washracks. Each room has more than enough room for more than one mech, even the ones that will only have a single mech living in them. We have a private common room here with energon dispensers. This is our own private section of the Ark, our new home." Jazz stepped forward to stand at his bondmate's side.

"Welcome home Blue."


End file.
